- Jul 10, 2004
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Interesting article about all of the medicinal uses for snake venom. Seems to be particularly good for arthritis patients.
Toxic Medicine: How Venom Can Heal
Of the deadly animals in the wild, no pit viper or scorpion quite matches the hidden danger of the 3-inch long Conus magus, or "magician's cone," snail.
On the ocean floor the snail tends to look like a seafaring paperweight, at least until dinner swims by.
Then the formerly unassuming snail uses its snakelike tongue, topped with a tiny harpoon, to inject its prey with immobilizing venom, turning a passing fish into a one-bite meal.
The venom is made up of approximately 200 different kinds of toxins and can kill a grown man as easily as it kills a guppy. Any human unlucky enough to be injected by the venom will be effectively paralyzed by the toxin-filled substance, which can lead to organ failure when the diaphragm muscles are no longer able to contract and pull oxygen into the lungs.
Jon-Paul Bingham, an assistant professor in the department of molecular biosciences and biological engineering at the University of Hawaii, has made a career of studying various species of the cone snail and characterizes them as "pretty horrific, pretty nasty."
But the venom, Bingham said, causes one surprising reaction in its victims: They feel no pain.
This venom's ability to cut off pain receptors has led to a second life as a powerful pain reliever called Prialt. The drug is 1,000 times more potent than morphine and is nonaddictive.
Toxic Medicine: How Venom Has Lead to Medical Breakthroughs - ABC News
Toxic Medicine: How Venom Can Heal
Of the deadly animals in the wild, no pit viper or scorpion quite matches the hidden danger of the 3-inch long Conus magus, or "magician's cone," snail.
On the ocean floor the snail tends to look like a seafaring paperweight, at least until dinner swims by.
Then the formerly unassuming snail uses its snakelike tongue, topped with a tiny harpoon, to inject its prey with immobilizing venom, turning a passing fish into a one-bite meal.
The venom is made up of approximately 200 different kinds of toxins and can kill a grown man as easily as it kills a guppy. Any human unlucky enough to be injected by the venom will be effectively paralyzed by the toxin-filled substance, which can lead to organ failure when the diaphragm muscles are no longer able to contract and pull oxygen into the lungs.
Jon-Paul Bingham, an assistant professor in the department of molecular biosciences and biological engineering at the University of Hawaii, has made a career of studying various species of the cone snail and characterizes them as "pretty horrific, pretty nasty."
But the venom, Bingham said, causes one surprising reaction in its victims: They feel no pain.
This venom's ability to cut off pain receptors has led to a second life as a powerful pain reliever called Prialt. The drug is 1,000 times more potent than morphine and is nonaddictive.
Toxic Medicine: How Venom Has Lead to Medical Breakthroughs - ABC News
